The Ministry of Education (MOE) tried to assuage fears yesterday that national college entrance exams would be postponed or canceled because of swine flu.
“National exams will only be rescheduled or canceled in the event of a really serious outbreak,” said Wang Chun-chuan (王俊權), head of the ministry’s Department of Physical Education.
Wang is the ministry’s representative in the Central Epidemic Command Center.
PHOTO: CNA
The center held its fourth meeting yesterday and discussed whether to postpone or cancel national exams. Wang made his remarks during a press conference at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters yesterday afternoon.
The next scheduled national exams will be the entrance exams for two-year colleges on May 16 and May 17 and for high schools on May 23 and May 24.
When asked for details about the mechanism for canceling or postponing exams, Wang said they would be made public if necessary.
“We do not have to worry about that at the moment,” Wang said.
CDC Spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said that if classes had to be canceled or a school shut down because of an outbreak of swine flu, the CDC would enforce a full-scale shutdown, with teachers and students required to stay at home or in hospitals.
“Once we decide to shut down a school, it will be the entire school, not just a few classes,” Shih said. “If the situation arises, parents would be allowed to leave work to take care of quarantined children.”
Meanwhile, Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) encouraged the public to wash their hands more often instead of panicking or purchasing surgical masks.
“Washing your hands as often as possible is the best way for you to get rid of germs,” Yeh said. “As I have said so many times, we have more than enough surgical masks and they will be available from May 7. There is no need to panic.”
Yeh said that an initial batch of 2 million surgical masks would be made available at local convenience stores tomorrow. At the moment, he said, only sick people should wear the masks all the time.
“We do not have any outbreak in Taiwan at the moment. The reason for wearing a surgical mask is to prevent spreading viruses or germs, not avoiding them,” Yeh said.
Shih said that there were still no confirmed cases, although as of press time yesterday 14 people were awaiting results from the CDC’s laboratory.
Shih said that the laboratory was capable of processing a total of only 100 samples at a time, but the CDC was planning to share the technique with contracted laboratories.
“We hope to do whatever we can to shorten the process,” he said.
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